Page 47 of The Mafia Bachelor

When we’re both panting and spent, he gathers me into his arms and carries me to the bathroom, setting me down in the shower. And that’s glorious.

Afterwards, we have breakfast in his rooms, looking out over the Irish countryside. Silky smooth coffee, and he feeds me strawberries, which naturally leads to his fingers in my mouth, and it’s not long before he drags me onto his lap and the clothes we put on are rapidly shoved aside so he can thrust into me. We can’t keep our hands off each other.

It’s only much later, after another wash, that I tell him I really need to get clean clothes from my room.

His brows pinch together, but there’s yet another call to his phone, it’s been buzzing all morning and he’s told me to ignore it each time.

“Take the call, I’ll be back in a minute,” I say, and he frowns but nods.

“Brandon,” he barks into the phone, and his brow is furrowed as he watches me leave his suite.

I do my best to sneak discreetly back to my room. Quick. I just want to put on clean knickers, then return to Kill.

But fate is not on my side, as I take a wrong turn and end up in the kitchen of the guest wing. Sue is at the table drinking coffee with the other girls, some of the Archway men standing guard around them.

“Hi!” I try to seem unbothered, breezy, as I attempt to walk past at almost a run.

“You’ve seen Killian this morning?” Sue says before I can escape.

I pause.

I blush and smile the probably really obvious smile of a girl totally smitten and fucked to within an inch of her life by the man of her dreams. “We had breakfast together, yes.”

Her eyes snap. “Breakfast? Alone? When your date ended last night?”

My feet go heavy, as though I’m caught in a trap and I can’t yet see it.

“He invited me,” I reply pathetically. “He insisted.”

“The rules are very clear. No contact outside of the competition.” Her expression is stone.

I open and shut my mouth like a fish trying to breathe air, my chest seizing up. This can’t be happening. “Last night…”

“Whatever happened last night was within the rules.” She tosses her head with careless elegance that I can only be in awe of, even as I’m breaking apart inside. “But this morning was not. Breakfast was to be had with the rest of the competitors. You lose your place in the competition immediately. Shane.” With two fingers she beckons to one of the guards.

No. Shit. What??!! Panic rises in me like a relentless tide.

“I need to talk to Kill,” I squawk. It’s my only hope. He’ll fight my corner. Won’t he?

“Absolutely not. Killian will be busy today on his date with Katy.”

Tears prickle behind my eyes. This can’t be over.

One more day. Two. Just to the final decision, so I know that it’s over, and I’ve done everything I can. That it’s truly finished. I can’t lose him now. I’m fracturing, cracking under the pressure.

My fists clench. “I’ll go after I speak with him.”

“This is my competition. My son entrusted me with finding him a wife. If I say you’re leaving, you are.”

“Katy isn’t right for him.” The desperate words are out of me before I can consider.

Sue narrows her eyes. “That’s the way it works, Avery. I set clear rules. It’s his choice, of the women within the competition, and you aren’t anymore. You’re lucky I let you stay at all.”

“But Kill…” I trail off pathetically. He’s nowhere to be seen.

“Killian,” she emphasises his full name, “has never cared about relationships. He doesn’t care about women, or men. He’s dedicated his life to Archway and to this family. If you can’t understand that, you’re not the woman for him.”

And my heart breaks. Because I do know that.